Privacy Policy and Cookies

Last reviewed: 22 September 2026.

Freedom Charity is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1139657). This notice explains how Freedom Charity handles personal information when you use our website, contact us, seek safeguarding support, donate, buy something, request training or resources, or choose to receive updates.

Operational assurance: a privacy notice explains the standards and legal basis that should govern handling of personal information; the wording alone is not evidence that every control operates effectively. Funders, commissioners or partners carrying out due diligence can use the contact form to request relevant current data-protection, safeguarding or information-governance documentation.

Who controls your information?

Freedom Charity is the data controller for personal information it decides how and why to use. For privacy questions or requests, contact us through our contact page.

What information we may collect

Safeguarding and helpline enquiries

If you contact Freedom about forced marriage, FGM, Dishonour Abuse or another safeguarding concern, you may choose to share your name, contact details and information about your circumstances. This can include sensitive information about health, family life, ethnicity, religion, sexual life, alleged abuse or criminal conduct. We ask people to share only what is necessary for us to understand the concern and respond safely.

General, school, training and partnership enquiries

We may collect your name, email address, telephone number, organisation, role and the information you include in your enquiry, including details needed to discuss a school visit, professional training, funding or partnership request.

Donations and Gift Aid

When you donate, we may receive your name, contact details, donation amount, payment status and transaction reference. If you make a Gift Aid declaration, we also need the information required to administer that declaration. Payments are processed through the payment options shown in the donation form; Freedom Charity does not need to receive your full card number.

Shop purchases

When you buy books or badges, we may collect your name, billing and delivery address, email address, telephone number, order details, payment status and transaction reference so that we can process the order and deal with customer-service queries.

Mailing lists and resource updates

If you choose to receive marketing or updates, we may collect your email address and communication preferences. Joining a mailing list is optional and is separate from direct access to Freedom’s PSHE resources.

Website and security information

Our website and service providers may process technical information such as IP address, browser and device information, pages visited, referring pages, security logs and cookie information. We use this information to operate, protect and understand the website.

Why we use personal information

We use personal information only where we have a lawful reason to do so. Depending on the activity, this may include:

• responding to enquiries and delivering services — where necessary for our legitimate interests in running the charity and responding to people who contact us, or to take steps requested before providing a service;
• orders, training and other agreed services — where processing is needed to perform or prepare for a contract;
• financial, tax and regulatory administration — where we need records to meet legal, accounting, Gift Aid or regulatory requirements;
• marketing — where you have chosen to receive it and consent is required;
• website operation, security and improvement — where necessary for our legitimate interests and subject to any consent requirements that apply to non-essential technologies; and
• safeguarding — where processing is necessary to respond to risk, protect people and provide or coordinate appropriate support.

Where safeguarding information includes special-category data, Freedom must also have an additional condition under UK data-protection law. Depending on the circumstances this can include the substantial-public-interest condition for safeguarding children and individuals at risk. Where criminal-offence information is processed, an additional legal condition is also required. Freedom should process only what is necessary for the safeguarding purpose.

Who we may share information with

We do not sell personal information. Freedom uses third-party services to operate the website and deliver particular functions. These include WP Engine for website hosting; GiveWP and PayPal for online donations; WooCommerce and the payment options enabled at checkout for shop orders; MailPoet for mailing-list administration; Google Analytics through MonsterInsights for website measurement; Google reCAPTCHA on forms; and website security services. The provider involved depends on the service you choose.

These organisations may act as processors, independent controllers or both, depending on the service. They receive only the information needed for their role and are responsible for their own processing where they act as controllers.

Where safeguarding, crime prevention or legal duties require it, information may also be shared with appropriate statutory or specialist bodies, such as police, social care or other safeguarding agencies. We do not share safeguarding information merely for marketing or fundraising.

International processing

Some service providers may process or make personal information accessible outside the UK. Where Freedom Charity initiates a restricted transfer, it must use a lawful transfer mechanism under UK data-protection law, such as UK adequacy regulations, appropriate safeguards, or an applicable legal exception. Where appropriate safeguards are used, the organisation must also carry out the required assessment of the protection available for the information.

How long we keep information

Different records need different retention periods. Freedom Charity keeps information only for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected, taking account of safeguarding, legal, tax, regulatory and accountability requirements.

• Gift Aid and tax records: Freedom keeps the records required by HMRC for the applicable statutory period. Enduring Gift Aid declarations covering ongoing donations must be retained while they continue to apply; when donations stop, HMRC retention limits apply according to the charity’s tax treatment.
• Orders and financial records: retained for the period needed to meet accounting, tax, payment, refund and dispute requirements.
• Marketing records: retained while you receive communications and, where necessary, afterwards to record an unsubscribe or other preference so it can be respected.
• General enquiries: reviewed and deleted or anonymised when they are no longer needed for the enquiry, follow-up or a related legal or accountability purpose.
• Safeguarding records: retention depends on the nature of the concern, risk, legal duties and the need to demonstrate how a safeguarding matter was handled. These records are reviewed under Freedom’s safeguarding and retention arrangements rather than being kept indefinitely without review.

Where a legal claim, regulatory enquiry or safeguarding need requires a record to be kept longer, Freedom may retain the relevant information for that additional period.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to ask for access to your personal information, correction of inaccurate information, deletion, restriction of processing, data portability or to object to certain processing. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing.

If you are unhappy with how we use your information, contact Freedom Charity first so that we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Safeguarding confidentiality

Freedom will treat safeguarding information with care, but confidentiality cannot be absolute. If information indicates that a child or another person may be at serious risk, or where disclosure is required by law, it may be necessary to share relevant information with an appropriate safeguarding or statutory body. We aim to share only what is necessary.

Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies and similar technologies can store or read information on a device. At the time of this review, Freedom Charity’s website uses services including Google Analytics through MonsterInsights for website measurement, Google reCAPTCHA on forms, WooCommerce for shop and checkout functions, GiveWP for donations and website security services to help protect the site. The technologies used can vary according to the page you visit and the action you take.

• Strictly necessary technologies support core website, security, basket, checkout and donation functions.
• Analytics/performance technologies help us understand how the website is used and how pages perform.
• Functionality technologies may remember choices or support features you request.

You can control cookies through your browser. Where the website presents additional cookie-choice controls, you can also use those controls. Blocking some necessary technologies may affect donation, checkout, forms or other site functions.

Links to other websites

Freedom’s website links to external organisations including government, safeguarding, education, payment and social-media services. Those organisations have their own privacy notices and are responsible for how they use information on their sites.

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice when our services, technology or legal requirements change. The review date at the top shows when this page was last substantively checked.